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Reviews
In Our Blood (2023)
I'm not gay but ....................
"In Our Blood" covers, in a semi-fictional way, how Australia addressed AIDS in the 1980s. From the first day of the Hawke government, Health Minister Dr. Neal Blewett gathered a team about him that tackled the issues in a pragmatic way.
In the night that the first part was shown, ABC repeated a documentary from 2007 which featured interviews with some of the characters portrayed in the new series. Bill Bowtell was prominent in the fight to contain Covid-19, having been an adviser to Dr. Blewett when AIDS was emerging.
The series shows the lack of understanding of the disease in the early days. It demonstrates how Australia's response was so much more practical than the measures taken in other countries where right-wing evangelists ensured that the action taken by government was restricted (did someone mention USA?). I remember people saying that AIDS was God's myxomatosis punishing gay people for their lifestyle. Then the Grim Reaper campaign stressed that it would become a threat to everyone if not defeated.
Some of the personal stories are fictional but some are true. It all seems like yesterday but it was 40 years ago. How time flies!
See How They Run (2022)
Another two hours of my life wasted
Encouraged by the (few) positive reviews of this movie on this page (probably written by friends of the producer?), I was one of four people in the cinema to watch this awful, clumsy, stupid, American spoof. There was NOT ONE laugh from anybody in the audience. The jokes were lame. This looks like a 6th class school play that has been cast for adults. The three stars of my rating are for the ending 1. Because it has a glimmer of cleverness, and 2. Because it is so welcome when it comes.
The "production values" (as Americans are wont to call such measures as authenticity, set design and acting) are all substandard. There is so much anachronistic material (as outlined in Goofs) that I thought that it must be part of the spoof. Most of the acting is c.1930 slapstick. Whoever cast the part of Richard Attenborough as being 6ft+ has never seen an Attenborough movie. Or was that a "joke" too?
So much of the action is predictable.
If this had been on television, I would have changed the channel. I regret not walking out but I was optimistic that it would get better. I was wrong.
Marriage (2022)
Discontinuity
Nicola Walker has taken on some rather poor projects in recent years but this is a new low.
There are three fine actors. Nicola Walker plays the part of Nicola Walker. Sean Bean plays the part of a Yorkshire version of Monsieur Hulot with an unintelligible accent. James Bolam stands around doing not much.
The writing gives us a set of unconnected scenes which seem to end abruptly. Continuity was apparently managed by students on work experience.
This is a slow, boring, pointless show. The theme "music" is appalling.
One star for each of the famous actors. What a waste of talent. What a waste of my time.